Hillary 2024
Why a Hillary 2024 Presidential campaign would be disastrous for democracy and would hand Trump another term as President.
On election night 2016, Hillary Clinton was on the brink of going down in history as the first female President of the United States. Instead, she will go down in history as one of the biggest electoral failures of history, not only handing Trump the keys to the White House due to her cataclysmic failure of a campaign, but also allowing the far right MAGA insurrectionist supporting movement to grow stronger than ever.
Throughout her ego trip of a campaign, she was branded as unrelatable and unlikable. The former Secretary of State made many painful attempts to overcome this. One was when she was on the popular radio show ‘The Breakfast Club’ and the interviewer asked her what the one thing she always carried with her was. Her answer was “Hot sauce”. Many suggested this was a very ill-fated attempt to pander to the shows largely young and black audience. I agree with this sentiment. Do you really think Hillary Clinton can't leave the house without an assortment of hot sauce. I don’t think so.
There were also countless other cringey moments on the campaign. One of these is the infamous ‘I’m just chilling in Cedar Rapids’ video, as well as her ‘Pokémon go to the polls’ declaration. And who could forget when she started barking?
Admittedly cringe alone shouldn’t unqualify someone from running for President. I’m just using these examples to support the case that she is unreliable and unlikable despite her best and at times painful efforts.
Despite all of this, the establishment media war machine is once again starting the rumour mill. Opinion writer at The Hill Douglas Schoen recently wrote a piece called “Now more than ever, Democrats need Hillary Clinton”. He argues that Biden’s low approval rating is leading to doubts as to whether he will run again, and then points at Kamala Harris’s unpopularity at a potential vacancy on the Democratic 2024 Presidential ticket. He argues this will create “a leadership vacuum within the party that only Clinton – as an experienced and politically savvy “change candidate” – can fill.” Schoen also wrote a similar piece in the Wall Street Journal, arguing that “Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have become unpopular. It may be time for a change candidate”, pointing to Hillary. Whilst I agree that there may be a vacant slot on the 2024 ticket, how on earth is Hillary Clinton the person to fill it? Even more absurdly, how is she, the epitome of the Democratic establishment the ‘change candidate’?
CNN’s Chris Cillizza also covered the rumblings about another Clinton run, covering how “In the immediate aftermath of the Supreme Court's monumental decision to overturn Roe v Wade, conservative writer John Ellis took to the internet to make a provocative case: It was time for Hillary Clinton to make a(nother) political comeback.” (CNN). A former advisor to Bill Clinton also has said that there is a ‘good chance’ that Hillary will run again.
It is worth noting that Mrs Clinton said that she wouldn’t run again, and I personally think that it is unlikely. But it only takes enough people around her to persuade her that she can win for her to do it again. These articles in The Hill and WSJ could likely help those in her circle build that case. It is also worth noting that Clinton has an illustrious record of changing her positions on certain issues. Who knows if she may change her opinion on running again?
But if there is this much discussed vacancy on the Democratic ticket to face a Republican challenger, who will most likely be Trump, I think that the Democrats will need to pick a real change candidate. And by that I mean someone who hasn’t been part of the democratic establishment. This would give them the best chance to defeat Trump, who is likely to parrot his usual ‘drain the swamp’, ‘get rid of the corrupt Democrats lines’, especially after the FBI recently raided his home. If the Democrats had a new candidate who was also anti-establishment, it would take away a large part of what Trump would likely use to attack his opponent. If anything, this Democratic candidate could paint Trump as the corrupt, establishment figure.
Two candidates who I would like to see run are Nina Turner and Marianne Williamson. These are two progressives who not only have strong policy beliefs and could be ‘anti-establishment’ candidates, they are also highly skilled orators. This will be important against Trump. You don’t have to think for long to recall his ‘You’d be in jail’ remark to Clinton.
Turner is a former State Senator, Congressional candidate and was a national co-chair for Bernie Sanders’s 2020 Presidential run. She has a strong base of support on the left, and I think she would be a fantastic candidate. I truly hope she runs. Williamson is a bestselling author, spiritual thought leader and former Presidential candidate. Although her 2020 campaign wasn’t a raging success, I would argue this mainly was due to the establishment doing everything they could to supress her voice. For example, she was the most googled candidate after the second Democratic primary debate, demonstrating a great interest in her ideas, yet the Democratic party changed debate qualifying rules, so she didn’t qualify for the third debate. She told the Daily Mail “there’s a ‘well-strategized’ effort on behalf of the ‘left’ to keep her out of the third Democratic debate” also saying “’There’s some very powerful forces that want to make sure I’m not in that third debate so I must be doing something right’” (Daily Mail). It would be interesting to see how she would do without the Democratic party supressing her voice quite so much. I really hope she too runs. I mention Turner and Williamson to highlight how there are other choices for the Democratic Party, choices that would actually be change candidates.
I just want to make very clear that my opposition to Clinton certainly isn't me supporting Trump. I think he is far worse. I just think that Clinton running again is the best way to ensure Trump wins a second term. The fact that so many in the Democratic establishment fails to see this very simple ‘truth’ is deeply concerning and emblematic of the party’s dysfunction and detachment from the people it is there to serve.
I’m also not going to bother analysing her policies in 2016 or those she may adopt in a potential 2024 run as they would just be the standard democratic establishment endorsed policies that would have minimal impact on people’s actual day to day lives.
For the record, I don’t write this piece with the primary intention of personally attacking Hillary Clinton. I’m sure she is a good mother and a nice person. I also rather enjoyed watching her documentary. I just personally think that she was a very poor candidate in 2016, and that it would be catastrophic for America and the Democratic Party if she were to run again. So, to any advisor in the Clinton circle of trust who may be reading this. Please no. There are other ways to comfort an ego.
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